Violin Memory’s Funding Another Sign of Flash Frenzy

Data-storage chips known as flash memory keep shaking up sector after sector. The latest action is in corporate computer rooms, where a startup called Violin Memory sells boxes that are getting attention.

The closely held company on Monday will announce a $35 million funding round from investors that include Toshiba Corp.–one of the biggest flash memory makers, which put money into Violin last April–and Juniper Networks, the Silicon Valley networking equipment company. Chief Executive Donald Basile puts the money raised by the company to date at more than $110 million, including investments in a startup called Gear6 whose assets Violin bought last June.

Violin, which was founded in 2005 in New Jersey and recently moved near Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., isn’t trying to speed up storage inside servers. Rather, the company sells separate flash-based boxes that can supply data to multiple servers.